U.S. Soccer about to launch major grass roots campaign.

By Mark Noonan
Special to SoccerTimes

Mark Noonan, chief marketing officer for the United States Soccer
Federation, responded to a recent SoccerTimes column by Jerry Langdon calling
for fan support for the United States national team and said a drive to involve
the soccer community in a grassroots campaign would be launched shortly.
Excerpts from his letter to the writer:

(Friday, March 12, 1999) -- I, more than most, appreciate your comments about
U.S. fans supporting our product either by attending National Team matches or
watching them on television.

One of the key things we need to do is convert all those participants in to
fans and consumers of U.S. Soccer. Needless to say, this will take a long term
concerted effort focusing on an improved product on the field and a much better
presentation on television. In short, we have to offer a product that people
want to buy and package it in a way that compels them to buy. Then we need to
tell them when and where it's available.

With Bruce Arena's early results and our partnership with TWI on the television
front, I think we're on the way. The key is consistency over the long haul.

One of the things that I've been preaching since I joined the Federation six
months ago is the need to get the so-called soccer "family" to buy our
products. Given our four million registered members (not to mention the
millions more who aren't registered), if we can only convince our own family to
consume U.S. Soccer, we'll be a force the television networks will have to
reckon with.

Imagine a bidding war between the networks for soccer coverage. It can happen
if we are together. Add to that the compelling demographics of our audience,
and we've got a chance to compete for our fair share of coverage versus the
established sports and entertainment properties.

Without it, we can complain all we want about the lack of respect we get, but
the numbers simply don't lie. After all, like it or not, this is a business and
it's about results (on and off the field).

A key to getting the soccer family together is simple awareness and consistent
communication of what we need them to support. We don't have the luxury of
multi-billion-dollar television deals that come with hoards of 30-second
promotional spots. I also don't have a multi-million-dollar media budget to
build the brand of U.S. Soccer and promote our products; the vast majority of
sponsorship revenues are dedicated to player development and National Teams.

So, how do we do it?

In the coming months you will (if we're doing our job right!) hear about an
initiative we're calling "TURN US ON" -- a grass roots campaign that will
mobilize our family in support of our products. This will actually be
represented in a graphic fashion with the U.S. Soccer logo bookended by TURN
and ON. The campaign has a duel meaning:

(a) TURN US ON, the key being "US" as in us vs. them (us vs. other sports we're
competing against for share as well as us vs. our opponents on the field. Here,
we're trying to communicate a sense of ownership to our family; this is their
sport; these are their teams), and

(b) TURN U.S. SOCCER ON; this speaks directly to television as in when and
where you can see U.S. Soccer on television.

We will communicate this message via the Internet, at matches, via
publications, speeches, media, television, etc.

We don't have all the details fleshed out yet but it is safe to say we'll have
a fully integrated effort to ensure the word gets out among our target
audience. Stay tuned the next couple of months, and we'll keep you posted when
we're ready to launch.

This will be a monumental challenge given the dysfunctional nature of the
soccer family and the massive competition we face in the marketplace. But, the
challenge becomes a little less daunting when I read articles like yours!
Thanks for saying what a lot of us have been thinking. I can only hope people
are listening!

Mark Noonan is the chief marketing officer for the United States Soccer
Federation.

Articles and opinions expressed by other columnists are not necessarily the
opinion of SoccerTimes.